Morabito polishes French diamond ahead of Tour

By Julien Pretot PARIS (Reuters) - Steve Morabito rode in the service of Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, and helped Cadel Evans in the Australian's successful Tour de France challenge in 2011. The Swiss is now Thibaut Pinot's right-hand man in his quest to become the first Frenchman to win the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1985. "It's a crazy project. I learnt a lot and now it's time to give back," the 32-year-old Morabito told Reuters at a FDJ training camp in the Pyrenees. He was scooped up by FDJ during the close season at Pinot's request, bringing the French climber and the whole team his science of "marginal gains", a concept often cited by Team Sky to explain their success. "Cadel helped me in the choice of my future team, I kind of needed his agreement to give what I have learnt by his side," said Morabito. What Morabito has been doing is polishing, rather than shaping the diamond. "With Thibaut you are with someone who has finished third overall in the Tour, seventh overall in the Vuelta. I'm not going to help him ride 2 kph faster." But victory lies in the details and Morabito provides Pinot with the surroundings the Frenchman needs. "He reassures him. He is so rigorous, he's a monk. Thibaut watches him all the time, asks him if he can eat this or that," FDJ sports director Yvon Madiot, Pinot's mentor, told Reuters. "He also gives him serenity in the races. Now Thibaut won't panic in tense racing situations. "I'm making sure he does not have to worry about certain things," Morabito said. "I can be kind of a guide to put everything in place at the right time or be the alarm bell if some things are not going well." So far, everything has been going smoothly as Pinot won two top mountain stages this season and showed he has the capacity to compete with the big guns in the climbs. Progress still had to be made on other terrains and that is where Morabito's contribution has been essential. Before this year's Tour reaches the mountains, the climbers will have to go though a treacherous opening week with cobbles, possible bunch-splitting winds, and a team time-trial, a discipline in which FDJ have improved after Morabito insisted the riders had their time trial bikes at a training camp last winter. In that opening week, teams will jockey for the best positions towards the front of the bunch to avoid crashes and splits. "You can be the strongest rider in the peloton if you're not well placed or you don't see it (crashes, splits) coming, it's over," said Morabito, who uses his experience and insight to find the best spot in the peloton for Pinot. "You have to talk to other teams, use your contacts in the bunch. I like to do that, I'm a gossiper," he added. A gossiper, however, who does not like to share his secrets. "I don't like to give too many details because then if you write them it will be shared with everyone," he said. (Editing by Ed Osmond)